The invention pertains to a pad for scanning data stored on a flat surface in data processing equipment.
During a scanning process, essentially text, figures, drawings, images and designs of a general and/or artistic nature are sensed by means of a scanner in order to be sent to a data processing system after storage in a buffer. In this case the scanner cannot be run arbitrarily across the surface being scanned. Rather a regular control along appropriate path sections is required.
In order not to falsify the result of the scan, contact surfaces, called pads, have been used heretofore that will meet the specific demands of surface characteristics, roll resistance etc. In order to prevent a flat data carrier from sliding during the scan, pads were developed with a transparent surface attached to said carrier. This transparent surface rests in its entirety on the pad due to the attachment provided on one edge of the pad--as a kind of a turned page. However, the transparent surface can also be removed from the pad, in which the connection between pad and transparent surface will naturally remain. A flat data carrier is placed between the pad and the transparent surface, so that a layering of transparent surface on the flat data carrier being scanned on the pad will result. The scanner will be set on the transparent surface and in this manner will scan the data carrier underneath.
However, this kind of pad has the disadvantage that significant parameters for the scanning process will not be ascertained. In particular, the scanner cannot be either adjusted or calibrated. An overview of the storage capacity still available in the buffer, is missing entirely.